Colletti Joins Blue Regime

Foe to friend. Enemy to ally. Giant to Dodger.

Ned Colletti spent the last 11 years scheming ways to “Beat L.A.,” as the popular chant goes at SBC Park in San Francisco.

On Wednesday, he had his first chance to greet L.A. when he was introduced as Dodger general manager.

Allegiances can change in a hurry in baseball. All it took was for Dodger owner Frank McCourt to give the longtime Giant assistant GM the chance to build a roster of his own.

“Today is one of the proudest days of my life, if not the proudest day,” Colletti said. “To say I can’t wait is a tremendous understatement. I’ve waited for this opportunity for many years.”

He agreed to a four-year contract and will retain assistant GM Kim Ng, who was the other finalist. He met with Dodger scouting director Logan White for several hours and plans to do the same with player development vice president Roy Smith.

Colletti’s first order of business is to choose a manager. He said he has a leading candidate in mind but would not divulge the name.

“I’m going to start immediately with a search for a manager and also learning the front-office staff,” he said.

Colletti replaces Paul DePodesta, who was hired only a few weeks after McCourt purchased the team in January 2004. The Dodgers won a division title that year, but McCourt began to doubt DePodesta’s leadership and communication skills.

DePodesta made numerous roster moves last off-season and the Dodgers fell from first to fourth place in the National League West, finishing 71-91. Much of the decline could be attributed to injuries, and it appeared McCourt would give DePodesta at least another year when he backed a decision to part ways with manager Jim Tracy the day after the season ended.

McCourt had an abrupt change of heart as DePodesta closed in on hiring Dodger farm director Terry Collins to replace Tracy, firing his young, Harvard-educated GM on Oct. 29. A plan for a quick transition failed when veteran GM Pat Gillick turned down a Dodger offer and filled a vacancy with Philadelphia.

The search lasted 18 days and was slowed because the Giants would not allow McCourt to interview Colletti until after the general manager meetings, which were held last week in Indian Wells.

Meanwhile, two other candidates emerged -- John Hart, who had resigned as Texas GM after the season, and Theo Epstein, who resigned Oct. 31 as Boston GM but declined to speak to the Dodgers until Nov. 5.

It turned out the interest of both men was tepid at best. Hart pulled out Monday, days after Texas owner Tom Hicks and GM Jon Daniels publicly said he was going to return to the Rangers as an advisor. Epstein met with McCourt last weekend and decided the job wasn’t for him.

McCourt said he did not make Epstein an offer, and a source who spoke to Epstein on Tuesday confirmed that no offer was extended. However, McCourt said he did offer the job to Gillick -- who was a finalist when DePodesta was hired in 2004 -- during a short telephone conversation two days after DePodesta was fired.

“Pat and I had gone a long way down the road in our last interview two years ago, so our conversation lasted less than five minutes,” McCourt said. “Once the search was underway, the only person offered the job was Ned Colletti. There is no truth to the rumors about me offering a part ownership of the team to anyone.”

Giant owner Peter Magowan told the San Francisco Chronicle he was “not thrilled to death” about granting the Dodgers permission to interview Colletti. But he also knew he couldn’t deny his longtime executive the chance.

“How could I say to Ned Colletti, who might never get another job offer as interesting or challenging or rewarding as this one, how could I ever look him in the face and say, ‘Because of our selfish interest we’ve made a decision not to let you interview?’ ” Magowan said. “I think the Dodgers have hired the perfect guy. He richly deserves the honor of being a general manager.”

It might take a while for Colletti to shed every vestige of his Giant roots. He couldn’t help but wear his 2002 National League championship ring, with its black and orange trim and appropriately gaudy “SF” engraving, to the news conference at Dodger Stadium.

“Whenever I saw someone with a championship ring on, it says to me, ‘This isn’t a loser,’ ” he said. “It makes me think it is someone who has been around something special, who has contributed to some success.”

And isn’t that all the Dodgers want out of him?

Colletti has quite a mess to clean up. Besides hiring a manager, he must fill several holes on the roster. He said acquiring a corner infielder, depth in the outfield and a starting pitcher are his priorities through trade or free-agent signings. He also must decide whether to pay $3 million or more to sign top draft pick Luke Hochevar, a pitcher from Tennessee.

Several times Colletti referred to the talent-laden Dodger farm system, and he is eager to learn which of the young players are closest to contributing to the major league team.

He said he would seek free agents who were willing to sign for one to three years to avoid a logjam when prospects such as pitchers Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Broxton and Chuck Tiffany, and position players Andy LaRoche, Joel Guzman, Russell Martin, James Loney and others are ready.

Dodger payroll is an unanswered question. McCourt professed to spend $100 million last year, yet the payroll was closer to $85 million. Colletti said his new boss did not give him a spending cap.

“When I asked about the payroll, [McCourt] said, ‘Tell me what you need. You find the players, and if you think it’s the right thing to do, we’ll do it,’ ” Colletti said. “If I find a player or two players who want to be Dodgers and help this team get back to the top, I can come to him. If it’s the right thing to do, we’ll do it.”

The Giants are uneasy about Colletti’s knowledge of their off-season plans, although General Manager Brian Sabean said it probably wouldn’t matter.

“That’s a fact of life around the league in general -- people change jobs,” he said.

They will remain friends, although clearly their daily phone calls will cease. Still, Sabean couldn’t help but take a good-natured jab at the idea of Colletti -- championship ring and all -- working for his arch-rival.

“Ned is with the hated Dodger blue now,” he said. “It’s an interesting twist of fate. I’m sure he’ll be having a lot of pasta dinners with Tommy [Lasorda].”